Eiffel Tower turns out its lights as mark of respect to victims.

Alfredo Chiarappa

The Day After in Paris

Friday 13th november. As usual in this part of the year, I come to Paris to visit Paris Photo and meet colleagues and friends. Around 10 o’clock, after a book launch in a little bookshop close to Rue de Menilmontant, we decide to drink something before going to the next party. Suddently, the barman switches channels on the tv and we hear what’s happening in the city. One of the places under attack is close to our house, in the neighborhood of Goncourt. At first we try to take a taxi, but it is impossible to get one, so we decide to take the metro and get off on the next stop, in order to reach our home by foot, despite the police recommending us to avoid that area. Once at home we take our cameras and head to the places that have been attacked, but cops prevent us from doing so. Therefore my choice for the day after is to visit all the locations of the terrorist attacks and concentrate myself on the feelings of the people that showed up in the streets to commemorate the victims, despite a ban on public meetings.

The Brasserie Comptoir Voltaire, where there was a kamikaze attack.
Woman is praying in front of the Le Belle Equipe, where 18 people were killed by terrorists.
Despite the ban on public meetings, many people gathered at the Place de la Republique to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks.
Man lay a rose at the entrace of the Brasserie Comptoir Voltaire, where there was a kamikaze attack.
Woman standing in front of Sushi Maki, just beside La Belle Equipe, where 18 people were killed by terrorists.
Despite the ban on public meetings, many people gathered at the Place de la Republique to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks.
Woman lights a candle in front of the statue in Place de la Republique
Despite the ban on public meetings, many people gathered at the Place de la Republique to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks.
A couple standing in front of the statue in place de la Republique
A father with his daughter standing in front of the Le Belle Equipe, where 18 people were killed by terrorists.
Woman crying in front of Le Belle Equipe, where 18 people were killed by terrorists.
Despite the ban on public meetings, many people gathered at the Place de la Republique to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks.
Despite the ban on public meetings, many people gathered at the Place de la Republique to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks.

 

Bio

Born in Melfi in 1982, Chiarappa graduated in Graphic Design at Politecnico of Milan. His work has been focusing on young generations in countries that have undergone strong political changes. Chiarappa started his professional carrier in 2011 with a project concerning how young Russian genera- tions spend their nights in St Petersbourg. The project name is “Crossing Leningrad” and was published on Burn Magazine; part of it was published in Italian magazines such as D – La Repubblica. Since then Alfredo has been working as a freelance photographer and film-maker for editorial and corporate works. Among his clients you can find Leica, Nikon, The Chamber of Commerce of Milan, Itinere (Trenitalia), Regione Abruzzo, Fujifilm, L’Espresso, D-La Repubblica, Gioia, Cafebabel. Chiarappa is currently based in Matera, Italy.

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Alfredo Chiarappa

27 thoughts on “The Day After in Paris”

  3. mw

    The looks on people’s faces are reminiscent of New Yorker’s on 9/11.

    I get that look. I get that feeling.

    What I struggle to get, and have trouble coming up with an answer that doesn’t indicate ultimate doom for the human species, are comments like the ones above from people who find an attack like this unbelievable or have trouble processing its magnitude.

    Well, process this: The current death toll in Paris is 129. The Lancet, which is well on the low side of estimates, found that there were over 116,000 civilian deaths attributable to the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq between 2003 and 2011, which doesn’t count Afghanistan or smaller murder sprees in Yemen and Pakistan, nor the many more since. At the very least, 1000 times more civilians than were killed in Paris. More realistically, probably 4 or 5 thousand times more. A low estimate of civilians killed in U.S. drone strikes in recent years is more than double the Paris death toll.

    We have no trouble understanding the concept of revenge for people we feel kinship with, such as the victims of the Paris attack or 9/11, yet we can’t fathom why anyone would want revenge for six figure death tolls of people with whom they feel kinship, or their children killed in a drone attack on a wedding?

    The knee jerk reaction is to attribute our inability to understand the magnitude of those deaths to racism or xenophobia or an unconscious belief that the lives of the distant poor just aren’t as valuable as ours, so why would anyone care if they are slaughtered? But then we have no trouble with believability when we learn that more than 900 people have died in mass shootings in the U.S. in the past few years. Somehow we fail to understand the magnitude of that tragedy and it troubles us little. I imagine it has something to do with how its presented by our politicians and mainstream press. Empathy for victims of our crime and recklessness is discouraged.

    Anyway, none of that is to take away or diminish the pain of the victims, their families, the nation, or even sympathizers such as ourselves. I’ve been there, felt some of that. It’s not pleasant. It’s just unfortunate we find the inevitable so unbelievable and fail to get the concept of magnitude altogether.

  5. david alan harvey

    MICHAEL WEBSTER

    you are absolutely correct…i am surrounded by people who seem to think this horror just came out of nowhere, or out of a belief system only….Paris is retaliation….as are all of the attacks against the Western powers…for sure i am NOT an apologist for ISIS…not at all…i cannot envision the tragedy that has befallen so many families…yet it does help to understand from where it all comes and why….like 9/11 this will change us all forever….and i knew 1000% that when Prez Bush decided to bomb Iraq to get Saddam it would be the worst mistake of my lifetime and beyond…

  6. david alan harvey

    special thanks to Burn team Diego Orlando and Francesca Gennari for getting this essay from Alfredo..this was not a submission..Diego was in Paris for Paris Photo..i texted all Burnians that i knew were in Paris asked them all to send pictures to Diego who then spotted this one most complete set..

  10. Charles Peterson

    Well said MW.

    Everybody should read “The Spiral Notebook” by Stephen and Joyce Singular. It’s about the plague of disaffected white males terrorizing the US (in specific James Holmes). It could just as easily be applied to these young Islamic terrorists. Different set of beliefs, and grooming,
    training, etc. but in the end hate colors their souls the same. It’s the new paradigm, and the big takeaway from the book is that anybody forty and over has no clue as to what it’s like to be a young person in today’s climate of fear and frustration.

    https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stephen-singular/the-spiral-notebook/

  11. Paul

    Yes I agree the western world screwed up big time with the middle east and I’m sure we can go further back in history and find earlier cock-ups. This all very well and good, but what do we now? I can’t see much hope of peace in our near future…

  12. Frostfrog

    Mike, you SEVERELY misinterpret my words. ISIS is of our own creation, a mirror image of the horror we of the west have unleashed on others coming back to haunt us, a direct outgrowth of the arrogant stupidity and ruthlessness with which we invaded Iraq. All that you point out is part of the magnitude of it all. I disagree with nothing you state, other than your implication that by finding the pictures moving and being overwhelmed by the magnitude and to not feel like commenting further meant I somehow see the lives of the distant poor as less valuable then my own and don’t care when they are slaughtered, that I am not as appalled as you at the mass shootings we continually experience here in the United States.

    You got the essence of the cause and effect of the situation right, but that part you got wrong.

  17. skiwaves

    Hey Frostfrog,
    MW misinterpreted my words as well. My unbelievable remark referred to the fact that Burn picked up on the event so quickly, and posted those powerful images. I was expecting the previous article to pop up instead.
    Mike

  18. mw

    Hey guys, sorry, I was just riffing off the buzzwords you used in your posts. Many people use those same words, or similar, in the ways I criticized, but I never for a second thought badly about either of you. I should have explained that better

  19. a civilian-mass audience

    Financial wars,racism,xenophobia,homophobia,global warming,power games,oime,I can go on forever..
    we are humans and we can make choices(hmm). Don’t forget, we are born naked therefore we are all equal and free to choose (hmm).

    I choose to be happy.
    I choose to help others.
    I choose to say thank you and I love you. I make mistakes everyday but I will never stop to believe that if all the citizens of this planet unite then we will find solutions. Guns are killing people, big walls and borders are traps,abuse is bringing more abuse…Ignorance brings Fear…
    My point…empathy,compassion,solidarity is the way.You have done this here in BURN.A place with no windows, a place where we celebrate Art and friends, a place where we are trying to rise above our ‘egos’.

    ok,back to my olives and feta cheese.
    I love you ALLLL !!!

  20. Frostfrog

    Mike, you are a friend and have been since we met at The Loft and then again when you came to my slide show in New York. I did not think for a minute you suddenly thought badly of me, but rather felt I needed to clarify my position. I think you provide some of the most thoughtful commentary here, so no worries on that account
    .

  22. a civilian-mass audience

    FROSTYYYY…I have missed you too and our cats,the family,the Wasilla people, Abby’s place…How is my cat?

    I am in Grecolandia, life is full of surprises, a blend of spices,what not to love!!! I am here and there, next to my BURNIANS,and yes,I am going to push you ALLLL…

    KEEP SHOOTING, your Vision,your Journey is Unique,please Embrace it.

    FROSTY…slide show in NY? hmmm,I have missed some episodes.I was chasing my chickens,from 12 down to 4 after the capital control introduction…

    your civi who always brings ouzo,no matter what !!!

  23. Imants

    Governments train young me to fight, create that rite of passage atmosphere some just switch sides and it ends up a game of survival.

    As for jihad the allies were pretty good at it in WW1 send them out of the trenches for the daily slaughter`

  24. Frostfrog

    The cats are here with me right now and they say, “Civi! We miss you! Come see us. It’s -25C out right now, you would like it!”

    They don’t, though. They stay in the house, by the fire.

    That slide show in New York was a couple of years ago.

    I’ll have to do another one someday – in Grecolandia!

  25. skiwaves

    Mike,
    no need to apologize. one of my writing traits is to be unintentionally somewhat ambiguous. reading my comment over again, I can see your point…. well taken.
    Mike

  26. panos skoulidas

    The DALAI LAMA approach on prayer and terrorism:

    Prayer alone will not be enough to stem terrorist attacks like the shootings and bombings last week that devastated Paris and shocked the world, the Dalai Lama said.
    The Buddhist spiritual leader from Tibet said in an interview with German media outlet Deutsche Welle on Monday that terrorism is a problem caused by humans and, thus, must be fixed by mankind without God’s intervention.
    “People want to lead peaceful lives. The terrorists are short-sighted, and this is one of the causes of rampant suicide bombings. We cannot solve this problem only through prayers,” the Dalai Lama said as part of a response to a question about how he viewed the attacks.
    “I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said. “It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place.”

  27. panos skoulidas

    DID YOU LNOW THAT THE MAN THAT GAVE US YHE IPHONE Was the child of a SYRIAN Refugee???

    Jobs’s biological father, Abdulfattah “John” Jandali (b. 1931), was born into a Muslim household and grew up in Homs, Syria.
    From German mother:

    Schieble ( JOB’s mother )became pregnant in 1954 when she and Jandali spent the summer with his family in Homs, Syria. Jandali has stated that he “was very much in love with Joanne … but sadly, her father was a tyrant, and forbade her to marry me, as I was from Syria. And so she told me she wanted to give the baby up for adoption.”[12] Jobs told his official biographer that Schieble’s father was dying at the time, Schieble did not want to aggravate him, and both felt that at 23 they were too young to marry.[2] In addition, as there was a strong stigma against bearing a child out of wedlock and raising it as a single mother, and as abortions were illegal and dangerous, adoption was the only option women had in the United States in 1954.[7

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